Bald him: Mohit Sharma blames receding hairline for poor form

A frustrated Mohit Sharma has come up with the strangest of explanations for the drop in his form — his receding hairline.

Remember Mohit Sharma? The right-arm medium pacer played a crucial role in the 2015 World Cup, helping India progress to the semi-final of the showpiece event. He was a part of India's three-pronged pace attack at the tournament, along with Mohammed Shami and Umesh Yadav and finished with a credible 13 wickets in eight matches.

Once the go-to man for Mahendra Singh Dhoni, both for the Chennai Super Kings and India, Mohit had, however, fallen out of favour with the selectors following the pasting at the hands of the South Africa in Mumbai last year, when he leaked 84 runs in seven overs. He was part of the World T20 side, but didn't get a match. Now, a frustrated Mohit has come up with the strangest of explanations for the drop in his form that has kept him out of the national squad — his receding hairline.

Mohit should do better than give bizarre excuses for his loss of form. Reuters

“I realised I was losing hair, and it really affected my confidence big time, which in turn affected my bowling,” the Haryana pacer was quoted as saying by the Hindustan Times.

The 28-year-old, who had made his ODI debut in 2013, managed to play 26 ODIs for India, claiming 31 wickets, before being dropped. However, he has shown signs of returning to form in domestic cricket, having picked 16 wickets, including two fifers, in five Ranji Trophy matches this season.

If this spike in form is not an adequate confidence-booster for Mohit, he can perhaps take heart from the fact that he is not the only one to have had such a problem to deal with. Players like Virender Sehwag, Sourav Ganguly, Gautam Gambhir, Jacques Kallis, Graham Gooch, Doug Bollinger and others have suffered the problem of hair loss too in their cricketing careers.

In fact, Gambhir had said in an interview to ESPNCricinfo that cricket had given him everything, but had been taking away his hair. Dhoni's hair, on the other hand, had already started greying by the time he reached age of 30.

Thanks to technological innovations, there is almost a solution for everything in the 21st century and the bowler can have his hair and confidence back with hair transplant. Sourav Ganguly, Harsha Bhogle and Shane Warne all have undergone the treatment successfully and may be they can provide valuable guidance to the Haryana pacer.